Descent Into Choking Hands : A Jedi Story
by Hush Now
Summary: The years thus far have failed the Jedi, but they have not given up hope. In the far future, a new Jedi Order is born, with the cost of a very twisted new Sith Lord...


The doors swung open as a breath of fresh air swung through the council chamber. The doors were held firmly open by a Twi'lek female, her lekku draped down a little past her shoulders. They were thick, with almost unnoticable red spots on her pale orange skin. She had thin black lips which broke into a solemn, broken smile as her dark amber eyes scanned the room. She wore a loose fitting torn, dusty brown tunic with a black overrobe. Her nails were long and twisted with yellowed undercoats. Her legs were ridden up partially by wraps, worn and slightly tinged in blood. A lightsaber's hilt lay at her belt, fastened with two other bantha furred packs, consisting of various other items; also seen three menacing thermal detonators were cupped in their appropriate places at her waist. She murmured something, undefinable and stepped fully into the room, black robe flapped out behind her as she raised one hand to the council. Her feet padded lightly, like some strange air had just washed into the facinity.  
Her eyes were joggled with cloudedness, and as she took her place kneeling upon the crystal clear tiles of the floor, she bowed her head with great humbleness. Her lekku stayed in place as she placed her hands overtop of one another on her right knee.

"Sh'livya." She spoke her name with a quiet, almost completely silenced voice, not even waiting for them to ask of such a question, not taking one chance to meet eyes with the council.

The heads of the council raised to inspect her being with great interest, before a bushy haired Human male grunted. "Your status?"

"Apprentice." She spoke in short terms, obviously not caring for any terribly young chat, as the Human scratched his grey haired beard, and took a few easy breaths. "Your Master?" He asked, as like Sh'livya, not much of the speaking type.

Sh'livya sighed. "Killed. Sith... killed him. I need something, to take my mind from this painful disturbance."

"Have you any to offer?" She hissed, crossing her arms patiently behind her back as she rose back to her feet once more. Her enticing eyes narrowed so far that they seemed like small amber slits in her strange orange flesh, and as her black lips parted to speak once again, she was rudely interrupted by yet another Jedi stooping in through the doors.

This one was a male Trandoshan with beady black eyes and cold fingers which coiled tighter around a double-bladed yellow lightsaber which he had extended upon entering the room, a murky grin over his scaled, dried lips. The Twi'lek female laughed and stood straighter, bringing her fingers around the lightsaber at her belt, extending the few foot long violet beam, grinning with sharper, whitened teeth. The Trandoshan wore a tattered black Sith robe with a strange red ornamental eye patched on the back of his cape.

"Sith!" Sh'livya screamed and her voice rang through the room as the Trandoshan grunted and spun his lightsaber around as Sh'livya struck with a loud 'shhhht' against the dark Jedi's double bladed saber spun around back to both of his hands.

The Trandoshan's head leaked a foul blood as he narrowed his dark eyes, the force containing many wounds a normal man would have suffered.

"Kill me. My Master prevails." The Sith slammed one fist onto the ground, the ligthsaber had clanged to the ground by his feet. Upon dying, he lifted one set of fingers to attempt a last minute choke, but it was too late for the Dark Jedi, and Sh'livya, suddenly amused with the Sith's slaughter debeamed her lightsaber and clicked it to her belt, bowing her head. Amusement at the death of others was not something that a Jedi should cherish, but Sh'livya was young; fresh out of being an Apprentice, and blinded to certain depthier subjects of Jedi virtue.

"That Trandoshan. There must be something that could indicate his Master's location, or identity of some trail. Council, do I have the permission to pursue the Master of this Sith?" Sh'livya looked with eager eyes, bending over to retrieve the Sith's lightsaber; and while the people conversized between one another, she pocketed it safely beneath the confines of her robes, and knelt once more; only at honor to the council.  
"Sith must be dealt with properly, Masters. My voice will arrive at your ears shortly and any updates will be transmitted towards your peoples and counterparts. Please, council... your permission?" She closed her eyes, and her head bowed carefully.

Sh'livya turned to a slightly gaunt Chiss female, and she twiddled her pale blue fingers, and nodded with a hesitant bowing of her head. "You seemed more than capable of felling that Dark Apprentice. The council gives you our will." She bowed her head respectfully, as Sh'livya broke in with a droning voice. "I sense great evil, prowling right into my mind. I do not understand this yet; fresh out of my training and still not pursuing the right side, many men say. But I do feel this arousing sensation brewing in the system N'ahdorais. I sense that something lurks beneath the iron fist that this predicament is coming to. Something more; disturbing is at work. Sith... yet great and masterful these Dark Jedi are. How did that Trandoshan get in unnoticed?" Sh'livya asked abruptly of the Chiss, who saw this as a rhetorical sort of question, and remained with her lips sealed.

"I believe... somewhere in that twisted Sith, he wanted his Master to fall with him." Sh'livya stared out the window with quite concern sparked in her eyes.

"As Jedi, we are at work trying to comprehend this. Yet, maybe our minds are not falling deep enough; not grasping the clutches of the Sith that pursue us... like toys. They know of our intentions. That Trandoshan had a... communicator on his wrist gauntlet. It transmitted back. At first I was not aware of what was happening... but upon passing the body, I noticed the little signal cut off when he did. That Sith was merely a beacon to call back to a greater threat. A toy, like the Jedi will become... if we do not act more quickly."

Sh'livya cut her voice off and bowed her head far lower than before.

"I simply fear for what is to come. Though fear is a weakness... it is also one that sometimes... cannot be helped. I must go to the N'ahdorais system. I will find my answers. The Force is strong, and as it's knights... will not deceive us, like the Sith have used it to deceive their own."

With this, Sh'livya held up one hand and began down the stairs of the hall and threw open the doors, her eyes shaded by her pointed, dark hood.

"The N'ahdorais is crawling with smugglers and unwanted bounty hunters. Only if it is dire, should I venture to unnecessary stops. Tracking of the deadly Sith is no game, unless such games enstowed a potential for death." Sh'livya spoke as she bowed carefully, her lightsaber clinking up against her waist, closing her eyes, intent on thinking of some greater thoughts that seemed to trouble her.

"I should stop these dwellings on actions to come. I must find myself a captain's aid if we are to make it to the system... unless you have a ship?" She glanced back over her shoulder towards the Chiss, who she had felt following her since she exited the chambers, her eyes blanketed in a thin wavering cloud that seemed to enter; and clog her mind to some extent. "I musn't spend longer than accounted searching for a ship." The Twi'lek added briefly, her softened, wrapped feet made a brushing noise as they slid across the marble stone tiles of the outside walk, leading to the temple.

"Have you any suggestions? I do not like the feeling of stepping into any port or city without some sort of idea of what bears witness in such places. A great dwelling uneasiness has overswept me quite fast, and I have yet to understand the cause. Evil lurks not far behind in our shadows, I do believe. My movements must be careful, and my trust very well placed." Sh'livya bore a worried tone in her usually calmed voice.

The alien woman just thought for what seemed like an eternity, though Jedi had been taught grueling patience. "The Bounty Hunter, Gareth Kaan has one. His unsanitary dumphouse is on the corner street." She paused, turning her back on the Twi'lek.

"Don't get too comfortable. Kaan despises solicitors. Think of this as... as a test." She grinned weakly, with a nervousness that clouded her deep mind. "A test that will prove you for far greater challenges to come..." With these words embedded into Sh'livya's eager mind, the Chiss woman ascended the stairs back to the council chambers, and blanketed the Twi'lek in an echoing silence.


End file.
